Hello 2nd2none,
First, I want to make sure you have the basics covered before we delve
into this deeper, especially because I was unable to verify that Adobe
Illustrator 10 does or does not have the feature you require.
Open a .bmp file or .jpg file in Adobe Illustrator 10 and click File
and Save As. There should be an option that asks you why type of file
you want to save it as, and in the drop down box, check to see if
there is .eps. You have probably already tried this, but I wanted to
make sure. If the option is not here, Adobe Illustrator 10 probably
does not have the feature you require.
From what I understand your question to be asking, the following
programs should be able to convert the .jpg and .bmp files to a vector
.esp file (there is a directory at the bottom with an entire list of
programs, so you can choose the one that best works for you.. I will
be covering a few of them):
Raster Vect
http://www.rastervect.com/
“You will probably be able to load a raster file (like BMP, TIFF, PCX
-file) into your CAD program - nowadays most CAD programs can import
and display raster files. However, once you have imported a raster
file into your CAD program you will find that all you can do is look
at it or trace over it. You cannot change or edit it.
This is because CAD programs can only work with vector files. If you
want to edit a raster file in your CAD program you must first convert
it to a vector file. You do this using raster to vector conversion
software.”
From: http://www.rastervect.com/ , click the Download button and
download the trial version of "RasterVect" to see if it works for you.
I am not sure what restrictions, if any are on the shareware version
of this software. It appears to cost around $80US if you decide to
purchase it.
Once you have this program downloaded, you can find step-by-step
instructions for converting the file here:
http://www.rastervect.com/products.htm
VaryView 1.2
I was able to verify that this program can convert a vector .eps to
.bmp but am not sure if it will work the other way around. It might be
worth a try because it has a much lower registration cost than the one
below.
http://www.cheewoo.com/download.htm
Another program that might work for you is:
ImageMan DLL Suite 7.0
"ImageMan adds royalty-free professional image support to Windows
applications and supports more than 35 raster and vector image
formats, including JPEG, BMP, DIB, RLE, TIFF, WMF, PCSS, DCX, GIF,
FMF, TAG, IMG, EPS, WPG, DXF, and PNG."
http://download.com.com/3000-2070-7249136.html?tag=lst-0-8
This would probably allow you to export directly from Adobe
Illustrator or any graphics application to a vector .esp file but the
cost is a hefty $969. You can download a trial version to see if it
works for you.
This program might also interest you: “SMI Commercial software edits
and enhances digital photos, artwork or images and then converts the
raster images into vectorized graphic files that can be read by CNC
machining software.”
They offer a fully functional (for 20-days) trial download at:
http://www.phdllc.com/download/index.html
Another program that should work for you is this one:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/heatons/softsoft/wintopo/
Here is a directory with more “Raster to Vector Converters”
http://ilectric.com/dir/top/Computers/CAD_and_CAM/Raster_to_Vector/
If these solutions are inadequate for you, please do not hesitate to
let me know using “Request Clarification” and I will do my best to
further assist you as best as I can.
tisme-ga
Search Strategy:
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raster to vector
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vector est
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searched for est on download.com |
Request for Answer Clarification by
2nd2none-ga
on
24 Dec 2002 11:30 PST
im looking more into tutorial than other software. AI does do
everything needed, i just need instruction and the help menu isnt that
helpful. I d/l the trial versions of the software you linked up, but
i dont think they will do what needs to be done. My reasoning is to
beable to do my own graphics for my racecar so all i have to do is
give the files to the company that has a vinyl plotter and only thing
i have to pay for is the vinyl, no labor in making the graphics, and
maybe sometime down the road getting my own plotter. The link
bobthedispatcher gave was helpfull, it got me somewhat started in the
right direction, it was just a little too vague, need a more precise
tutorial. Thanks.
|
Clarification of Answer by
tisme-ga
on
24 Dec 2002 17:06 PST
Hello 2nd2none,
I found another possible solution for you:
I posted a request for assistance on the official Adobe Illustrator
boards and received this reply:
"Place the file in Illustrator, select the "Template" option. On a new
layer on top of this, start traceing over the art, with a thin,
brightly colored stroke, no fill. You can use the pancil tool or pen
tool to do this. Once you've drawn all the paths, choose proper fills.
It helps to process the bitmap file before trying this, to improve
contrast and clearly separate color regions, in Photoshop."
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@215.VXZyav3twr7.1088229@.1de72007/2
(not sure if this link will work for you, it might be computer
specific)
You will have to use the Illustrator drawing tools to trace over the
art and this will not automatically convert the image for you as some
of the applications above would. I do not think there is an easy way
to simply use illustrator to convert a jpg or bmp other than the two
solutions listed above, one requiring a different Adobe Photoshop.
You might also be interested in reading this:
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@215.VXZyav3twr7.1088232@.1de5f425/10
(I am not sure if this link will work for you).
Adobe appears to have a seperate application that converts images to
line art called Adobe Streamline:
http://www.adobe.com/products/streamline/main.html
You can try a trial of this product here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jhtml#product=45
This most likely has a tutorial that you will be able to run when you
install it.
I hope we are getting closer to an acceptable solution for you! If I
am still completely off base, perhaps I should have my answer removed
so that another researcher might be able to better help you.
tisme-ga
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